The European journal of general practice
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The countries of the former Yugoslavia have health and education systems with the same tradition but these have changed over the years. Little is known about how family medicine teaching transitioned from face-to-face to distance education during the COVID-19 pandemic. ⋯ Teachers used various old and new methods to provide learning opportunities despite COVID-19 constraints. Effective technology-based strategies are essential to ensure assessment integrity and enhance the learning environment.
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Most COVID-19 patients were treated in primary health care (PHC) in Europe. ⋯ In Europe PHC participated in many steps to diagnose, treat and monitor COVID-19 patients. Differences among countries might be addressed at European level for the management of future pandemics.
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For several decades, medical school graduates' motivation to specialise in family medicine is decreasing. Therefore, residents in family medicine must be motivated for the profession and finish their residency. ⋯ Based on the internal validation, the STRONG Instrument appears to have good reliability and internal validity, assuming a two-factor structure. This may therefore be a helpful instrument for measuring the strength of the motivation of (future) family medicine residents.
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The physician--patient relationship plays a critical role in the quality of primary care management. The generalised wearing of surgical masks in enclosed spaces - common during the COVID-19 pandemic -- could change the communication between patients and healthcare professionals. ⋯ Wearing masks makes the doctor--patient relationship more complex. GPs adjusted their practice to compensate.
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The increasing prevalence of multimorbidity among older people in Lithuania and other Central-Eastern European countries leads to a greater patient treatment burden and puts additional pressure on healthcare services. ⋯ The study's findings show that the MTBQ is applicable in assessing the treatment burden of multimorbid patients in Lithuania. Furthermore, the study demonstrates that Lithuanian patients with multimorbidity have average treatment burden scores similar to or higher than participants in previous MTBQ validation studies.